Be Right Back, Uninstalling

So I was thinking about selling my 360 to get money for a PC or something. That won't cover everything, of course, but the main sentiment is that I want a better PC. I've got a Dell Dimension 2400 or something, I got it in, like, 2004 or so. I put in a gig of ram and a 256 NVIDIA card, and that's alright, but I'd prefer something that wasn't such a hassle. Dell's very funny about their stuff, apparently.

I was looking on Newegg to see what motherboards and stuff went for, a friend of mine would build my PC if I got the parts and stuff. The thing is, I've got no idea where to start. What should I look for in a motherboard? What about a processor? Are dual-cores the norm now or are there still single-cores out there that are actually good? If there are single-cores out there that're good, should I buy that over a dual-core? I heard that the second core for old dual-cores only kicks in when the first one's filled up, if that makes any sense.

Help a dude out?

You can check out the Build-a-rig thread for ideas or request help picking parts, but to answer your questions:

Go with at least a dual-core most definitely. For motherboards, as with most parts, go with a reputable manufacturer and make sure it has the features you'll need, like SATA, at least one PCI-E x 16 slot, and make sure the slot matches your processor (likely AM2 for AMD, 775 for Intel). ATX is better than mATX because the board is gonna be bigger and will give you more space to work with. Your PC will run cooler, and it will be less of a pain in the ass to hook everything up.

Give me a price limit and I'll specbuild you the best comp you can get for it. Just finished up two for friends in FL for about 660$ each and am shipping them out tomorrow.